11 Signs It’s Time to Turn to an MSP for Your IBM Power Systems

In a recent survey, 44% of business leaders said they were having a hard time finding and retaining qualified IBM Power Systems professionals. That’s not a surprise. IBM Power Systems have been around for more than thirty years, and many colleges and universities have cut their power systems curriculum in favor of newer platforms.

In addition, salaries for IBM system administrators are currently running about 8% below the national average for similar roles on other platforms. While that may sound like good news, it also means that up-and-coming IT talent is probably not going to be interested in that open position you have.

But that doesn’t mean you need to ditch your IBM Power Systems infrastructure. A qualified managed service provider (MSP) can help you fill the gaps in your in-house IBM Power Systems skills, so you can keep using the powerful platform for your mission-critical applications.

Here are eleven signs that it may be time to turn to a qualified MSP:

#1 Your IBM i go-to resource in IT has just left or is about to retire, and a sense of panic is setting in.

#2 Your security expert got recruited by another company. (The job market for IT security professionals is hot!)

#3 Your industry is stepping up compliance audits, and hefty fines are common.

#4 You haven’t performed your own security and compliance risk assessment for a year or more.

#5 Recent downtime or a “close call” during storm season has you revisiting your outdated business continuity and disaster recovery plan.

#7 Your company just went through a merger, acquisition, or consolidation, and you’ve inherited unfamiliar IBM systems.

#8 You need to get ready for a pending merger, acquisition, or consolidation by paring back internal staffing.

#9 In an effort to reduce costs, you’d like to divest your data center and get rid of the high cost of maintaining the hardware you own.

#10 You need more flexibility to adjust to seasonal or fluctuating workloads.

#11 You’re so busy maintaining your systems your IT team hasn’t had time to launch a truly innovative initiative in years.

Your systems or ours?

Having a hard time finding the right IBM i talent or keeping them on staff? We can help. Connectria is a 4X winner of the IBM Beacon Award, and we host over 900 IBM environments worldwide. So there really is only one question you need to ask: Your systems or ours?

This managed cloud solution helps organizations that rely on IBM Power Systems to modernize their IT infrastructure quickly while lowering risks. We’ll help you migrate your IBM i and AIX workloads to an IBM cloud in one of our SSAE 18 SOC Certified data centers while leveraging AWS or Azure for your cloud-native and X86 applications. The TRiA Multi-Cloud Management Platform, standard with all our managed cloud solutions, helps you optimize your cloud environments for security, performance, and cost – all from a single console. Learn more here.